Interesting NASA probe ideas

[Vaktus]

I wonder what's your take on it.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/automaton-r...ments-aree

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/a-clock...-for-venus

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/journey-to-...-icy-moons

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/e-glider-ac...xploration

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/venus-inter...-vip-inspr

[stevebowers]

I really like the E-Glider idea. Electrostatic levitation!
I suspect that all of these devices will need advanced autonomous control systems, systems that aren't quite ready yet (but might be in ten years time, or less).

I've also heard about a helicopter for Titan.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/so...oon-titan/
the thick air and low gravity make this a good place to try drone technology.

[Drashner1]

Neat ideas! I also particularly like the E-glider But all of them represent both futuristic probes (an area of the setting that could be much expanded) and designing such probes around the environments they are intended to operate in - something that is rather new and might represent the 'wave of the future' - not just in terms of probes, but of many things - as humanity expands its explorations, resource extraction and processing, and eventually population into space.

Todd

[radtech497]

My personal favorite is the Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE), which is described as "a clockwork rover inspired by mechanical computers." This tank-like rover, designed to explore the surface of Venus, uses a Savonius wind turbine to supply its primary power needs, communicates via Morse Code with balloons in the Venusian atmosphere, and uses a mechanical computer for its data processing requirements.

Radtech497